Knighty Knight Bugs
"Knighty Knight Bugs" is a 1958 Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Mel Blanc provided for the voices of all the characters in this cartoon. Bugs Bunny, the court jester of King Arthur, must recover a singing sword from Yosemite Sam (as the Black Knight) and his fire-breathing, and ofttimes sneezing, dragon. This cartoon is notable as being the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award, in 1959, for Best Animated Short Film. Synopsis King Arthur is sitting with his Knights of the Round Table, complaining about hard times that have befallen the kingdom ever since the Black Knight has stolen the Singing Sword. He asks his knights - among them Sir Osis of Liver (a pun on cirrhosis of the liver) and Sir Loin of Beef (a pun on sirloin beef) - for a volunteer to get the sword back. The knights complain that the Black Knight is "invincible" and has a fire-breathing dragon guarding the sword. King Arthur angrily demands to know if the knights are all chicken, and is disgusted when he hears clucking and sees chicken feathers flying. Bugs, as the court jester, dances in and tells King Arthur that "only a fool" would be crazy enough to go after the Black Knight. The King agrees - he tells Bugs that he has to get the singing sword, or else face being beheaded (or, as he says, "Put to the rack, burned at the stake, and beheaded"). Bugs at first laughs at the idea, then starts crying when he realizes that the king is serious. At the castle of the Black Knight, shown to be Yosemite Sam dressed in black armor, there is a fire-breathing dragon, but the dragon is rather dim-witted and prone to fits of sneezing if it lets it fire get low, causing jets of flame to shoot from its nostrils. Sam feeds the dragon some coal to feed the dragon's internal fire, then goes back to taking a nap on his chair. Bugs sneaks in to the castle, past Sam and the dragon, and to the chest, where he pulls out the singing sword. He openly wonders why the sword is called the "singing sword" - and finds out when the sword starts vibrating to the tune of "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine." Sam wakes up and chases Bugs, but Bugs slams the door in Sam's face, causing his armor to fall off. Sam then wakes up the dragon, who breathes fire on him ("And stop breathing on me, you idjit!"). Bugs runs outside the castle, chased by Sam on the dragon. Bugs ducks into a hole, and Sam slides off the dragon when trying to stop. Bugs then runs back to the castle and raises the drawbridge as Sam approaches, causing Sam to fall into the moat. When Sam demands that Bugs lowers the drawbridge, Bugs lowers it right onto Sam's head, then raises it back up again. Sam then uses the dragon to pull a catapult in place, gets on it and launches himself to the castle - but misses the window Bugs is looking out of, flattening himself on his front (In a "cramped" voice, Sam declares: "You'll pay for this, varmint!"). Sam next lassos a rope around one of the battlements of the castle, but as he's climbing up, Bugs whacks a mallet at Sam's helmet, causing Sam to side down the rope outside of his armor. Thinking the coast is clear, Bugs sneaks out of the castle. Sam and his dragon are hidden behind a rock waiting for Bugs, but the dragon sneezes on Sam again ("You idjit"), alerting Bugs to their presence. Bugs then runs back into the castle, followed by Sam and the dragon. Bugs runs into a room, Sam and the dragon follow, then Bugs sneaks out and locks the door to what is now shown as the Explosives room. Surrounded by high explosives, Sam tries to keep the dragon from sneezing again or else they will get "blown to the moon". As Bugs walks away from the castle, the dragon stupidly sneezes again, and the tower Sam and the dragon are in takes off like a rocket to the moon. Sam remarks "Dragons is so stupid". Bugs waves goodbye, saying "Farewell to thee/Aloha Oye!". The singing sword picks up on this, and starts humming "Farewell to Thee" as Bugs walks out of sight. Availability *VHS - The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 9 *VHS - A Salute to Friz Freleng *Laserdisc - Wince Upon A Time: Foolhardy Fairy Tales and Looney Legends (Warner Home Video) *DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc 1 *Blu-Ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 1 Gallery Trivia Notes *This cartoon was reused as the first short in "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie", except that the Merrie Melodies theme is used instead of the Looney Tunes theme. Censorship *On CBS' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, the sequence where Black Knight Sam climbs a rope to enter the castle to get Bugs was edited to remove Bugs hitting Sam with the mallet. External Links *''Knighty Knight Bugs at SuperCartoons.net'' *''Knighty Knight Bugs at B99.TV'' Category:1958 shorts Category:1958 films Category:Animated shorts Category:Shorts Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons Category:Bugs Bunny Category:Yosemite Sam Category:Looney Tunes Category:Looney Tunes shorts Category:Bugs Bunny shorts Category:Yosemite Sam shorts Category:Warner Bros. Animation Category:Directed by Friz Freleng Category:King Arthur Category:Chuck Jones Enterprises Category:Vitaphone short films Category:1958 Category:1950s shorts Category:1950s Category:Bugs and Sam shorts Category:Merrie Melodies Category:Merrie Melodies shorts Category:1950s films Category:Best Short Academy Award winners Category:Academy Award winning films Category:Academy Award nominated films Category:Produced by John W. Burton Category:Arthurian Legends